In recent years, air conditioner control devices have appeared that execute energy-saving control of an air conditioner by restricting the air conditioning performance of the air conditioner. However, when energy-saving control of an air conditioner is performed without taking into consideration the conditions inside the air-conditioned room or space where the air conditioner is located, there is a possibility that the comfort of the people in the air-conditioned room may be decreased.
Therefore, operation control methods and systems for maintaining the comfort of the people in an air-conditioned room by detecting the temperature difference between the room temperature of the air-conditioned room and the outside temperature, and the positions of the people in the air-conditioned room, and changing the amount of correction for maximum performance for the air-conditioned room (for example, refer to Patent Literature 1).
In this operation control method, the positions of people in an air-conditioned room are found by human body detection sensors that are provided in the indoor device of an air conditioner, and when the air conditioned room becomes stable, the overall heat transfer coefficient of the air-conditioned room (found by dividing the amount of injected heat by the difference between the room temperature and outside temperature) is found, and energy-saving control of the air conditioner is performed according to positions of the people in the room and the overall heat transfer coefficient. As a result, it is possible to execute energy-saving control of the air conditioner without users of the air conditioner feeling uncomfortable even when executing operation that restricts the maximum performance.
Moreover, demand control systems and methods have been disclosed wherein, by performing energy-saving control for a specified time of each of a plurality of air conditioners while at the same time shifting the time period, sudden changes in temperature that cause people in a room to feel uncomfortable are reduced, and a certain amount of comfort is maintained while saving energy (for example, refer to Patent Literature 2).